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An early coder and champion of digital governance, Minister Audrey Tang symbolizes the innovations of Taiwanese democracy in the face of the authoritarianism of Communist China. A few days before the Taiwanese general elections, meeting with an extraordinary minister.
A follower of telework, a former hacker who left school at 14 and transgender: Audrey Tang is a decidedly atypical minister. Dressed in a long marbled tunic and wearing suede shoes, the Taiwanese Minister of Digital receives in an office with padded chairs where she never actually sets foot. " In fact, the ministerial part is the least important, " she laughs, a touch of mischief in her eyes. I mostly preach for digital . ”
Invested in this position in 2016 in the new sovereignist administration, Audrey Tang has become one of the symbols of a Taiwanese democracy determined to assert its particularities in the face of Beijing's territorial claims. An effort that pays off: Taiwan sits at the top of the rankings of the most open governments in the world and is now at the forefront of digital democracy. A counter-cry shouting at the “great electronic wall” and social control imposed 200 km away, in China.
An internet pioneer
Audrey Tang's career is extraordinary in more than one way. From the age of eight, she learned to code without a computer, blacking out pages of notebooks. " I discovered the web when it had just been invented, with the possibility that hundreds of thousands of people who do not know each other can act collectively, " she recalls.
At her fourteenth spring, Audrey Tang leaves the school benches to hack the world. " I preferred to work in an environment in which I do my own schedule ," she explains bluntly. It is on California that it sets its sights, and more precisely the city of San José. " I have been involved in the culture known as the" hackers "culture, with people trained at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) or members of the German club Chaos Computing ", she specifies in her silky voice . The gifted youngster then carved out a solid reputation in the world of computer code, as when she developed a search engine in Mandarin.
“ Radical transparency ” as a primary value
Back in Taiwan, Audrey Tang continues to bring to life the promises of the inclusive and egalitarian internet that she saw born in the United States. Audrey then became a woman, after a transformation on which she remains discreet, evoking only "a few minor operations " in a text posted online. Among the reasons that make her stay in Taiwan, she also evokes the fact of being transgender, in the first country in Asia to have authorized same-sex marriage last May.
Through her participation in the collective of citizen hackers gOv , Audrey Tang begins to give substance to her ideals. Activists make themselves known by creating hijacked versions of official government websites. The principle: present open government data, allowing citizens to better understand public action. The concept of “radical transparency” thus forged a first choice place among the ideals of the young hacker.
" Trust the citizens "
Become minister after the election of the democratic-progressive president Tsai-Ing Wen in 2016, Audrey Tang continues to defend a radical vision of the digital democracy. " The idea is to trust citizens without waiting for them to trust us in return, " she explains . We publish all of our budgets daily, we work with citizens on online petitions and participatory budgets . ”
Among the most innovative digital devices is in a good position vTaiwan, a citizen deliberation platform. The tool was created after a hackaton, a process dear to Audrey Tang. The principle is that of a race between computer developers, in which the kilometers would be lines of codes and the finish line a functional program. A success, since in 2016, the Taiwanese Prime Minister declared during a council of ministers that " all important national questions [will have to go through a vTaiwan-type process ", notes researcher Emilie Frenkiel in a study devoted to Audrey Tang .
" I do not give orders, I do not receive orders "
The young minister also imposes her style. " My political opinion is Taoism, but I am also a conservative anarchist ". Conservative, because Audrey Tang defends the primary values of Internet culture, namely an open source, free and egalitarian network. " And an anarchist, because everything must be done on a voluntary basis, " she continues , bringing a rebel strand behind the ear. I do not give orders, I do not receive orders. Here, everyone who works here does it voluntarily . ”
In a few days, on January 11, the Taiwanese presidential and legislative elections will be held. The two main parties scramble over the strategy to be adopted by Taiwan in the face of Beijing's land claims. Could digital help the Taiwanese to agree on the issue? " Today, the Taiwanese agree that the People's Republic of China is developing an authoritarian, nationalist standard in cyberspace, very different from that known on the internet," notes Audrey Tang . Of course, emotions, ideas, opinions, differ more. But if it were uniform, there would be no more democracy, would there? ".